January 19, 2005: Headlines: COS - Tanzania: North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: Megan Erickson, a new Peace Corps volunteer and 1998 graduate of Incline High School, is one of 40 Americans adjusting to life in Tanzania

Megan Erickson, a new Peace Corps volunteer and 1998 graduate of Incline High School, is one of 40 Americans adjusting to life in Tanzania.

She speaks highly of Peace Corps training.

"It's very thorough and extensive," she wrote via email to her mother, Lisa, of Incline. "We have one Tanzanian language teacher for every four Americans."

Erickson's first assignment was living with a family in Bigwa, a small village at the base of the Uluguru Mountains, home of some of the country's oldest tropical forests.

"The mountain right beside my home caught on fire the other night ... I didn't sleep much," Erickson wrote.

Yet her Tanzanian family "wasn't worried one bit ... They are used to it and were very sure that the house was going to be fine. It was," she wrote.

Erickson enjoyed her native family. They gave her an official family tribal name, Msumbwa Semgomba.

"My baba (dad) speaks both English and Kiswahili, but tries to speak to me only in Kiswahili so that I will learn," Erickson wrote. "My mama (mom) and dada (sister) only speak Swahili, and they are the ones that I end up hanging out with a lot, so I am able to practice quite a bit."

In the meantime, Erickson wrote that she is becoming good at acting out words.

In one of her first letters, she talks about having more than enough to eat - plenty of beans, rice, eggs, papayas, spinach, bananas, potatoes, cassavas, eggplants, uglai (which tastes like Cream O Wheat) and mangos (ripe in December).

She teaches a health class at the local school, which is a 15-minute walk along a winding, red dirt road.

A couple of weeks later, Erickson had just finished teaching her second HIV AIDS lesson to high school students.

"I think I had the best possible set-up," she wrote. "We were able to dispel some myths, talk to the kids about issues they haven't had the chance to talk about, and do a condom demo."

The headmistress of the school asked that she begin with the basics: Abstain, be faithful and use condoms. The culture differs from that of the United States most especially in the age youth become sexually active.

"Here, it is common for someone to lose their virginity at 12 years old," Erickson wrote.

Erickson explained despite early sexuality and plain speaking about sexual behavior at the school, there is "a culture of silence about issues involving sex and HIV." Many are embarrassed or afraid to talk about it.

"Religious and community leaders tend to either not address the issue or (most commonly) spread harmful lies about how HIV is spread and the effectiveness of condoms," she wrote.

Erickson said school officials estimate that 70 percent of high school students were engaging in sex.

"I am excited to get to my site and work on empowering girls to say what they want to say - say "No" when they want to, or insist on condom use," she wrote.

A recent recovery from "the worst flu I've ever had" taught her additional new words, no doubt grist for her midterm in Swahili.

"This weekend I will be going on a very short safari, which I am very excited about," she wrote.

In her third letter, Erickson said she had gone with her mama to a coming-of-age ceremony for two girls.

"I carried a bucket of water on my head, met a bunch of cool people, danced a bit, drank some corn porridge stuff and had a great time," she wrote. "I was able to convince/trick quite a few people into thinking that I could speak Swahili decently; Mama was thrilled."

She also discovered that she would be living in a village at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, about an hour north of Moshi, for the rest of her two-year Peace Corps commitment.

She was excited about getting a bicycle to get around and that she would be living close enough so she could hike into Kenya and walk to the gate to climb Kilimanjaro, she said.

But the opportunity to have a garden also appealed to Erickson.

"It's one of the most fertile areas of Tanzania, so I can have a garden ... Yay!" she wrote. The house she will be living in, with running water and electricity, is more modern than some.

She said those who would like to send packages would be best served sending padded envelopes less than four pounds. Erickson said she would enjoy receiving some packages of Mexican seasoning or other spices and seeds.

When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Ask NotAs our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help?

The World's Broken Promise to our ChildrenFormer Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005.

Our debt to Bill MoyersFormer Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia."

Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors.

The Birth of the Peace CorpsUMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn.

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Story Source: North Lake Tahoe Bonanza

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